Gender relations and farm household pluriactivity

Abstract

The division of labour in farm households continues to be structured by gender, affecting not only task allocation but also the exercise of control over the farm business. Rural sociologists have speculated that pluriactivity will challenge existing gender roles and relationships. One argument is that pluriactivity on the part of either spouse will increase the woman's power, due to her independent earnings if she is pluriactive or to her greater involvement in running the farm if her husband takes another job. A conflicting view is that women are adding to their workload in order to subsidize the family farm without enjoying a commensurate increase in power. Empirical evidence is sparse and equivocal. Data from the East and Mid-Devon study area of the Arkleton Trust research project on farm household pluriactivity were used to test these predictions systematically. Information was available on the activities of 272 principal male farmers and 245 wives from a random sample of 300 farm households. Wives are typically less involved than their husbands in farm tasks and exercise less power over major farm business decisions or day-to-day management. In this sample 32% of wives and slightly fewer husbands have other gainful employment on or off the farm. Where the husband only has another job there is little evidence of any increase in the wife's power in the farm business, though she might work longer hours on the farm. If the wife only works away she may be less involved in decision-making but where both spouses have other jobs, the wife is typically consulted much more. Further analysis suggests it is not pluriactivity per se which affects gender roles and power relationships in farm households but associated differences in backgrounds of farm husbands and wives. More egalitarian sharing of responsibility reflects less traditional attitudes brought by couples from non-farming origins.